July 2016

Article

This paper discusses weak and strong aspects of the United Nations (UN) human rights regime in general and the possible outcomes of accepting worst human rights violators into the UN system in particular. On these topics, it mainly argues that the UN is in need of an urgent reformation in order to be more effective and operational. However, reform initiatives should not exclude deviant states from the UN system, because despite the cultural relativity of human rights perceptions amongst the States, ratifications might have constitutive effect for all States in the long term. More specifically, tacit awareness regarding other States’ behaviours and active dialogue amongst the members of the UN over their idiosyncratic characteristics, approaches and human rights patterns might deeply influence the deviant States’ human rights practices. For this reason, as measuring the impact of human rights treaties, the article adopts a critical approach and seeks to analyse both the problems caused by the States who perniciously violate the treaties and the weaknesses of the UN system in an attempt to create a more balanced-picture.

Op-ed

In the wake of the UK Parliament’s decision on Friday to sanction air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, superficial comparisons with the 2003 Iraq War have invariably been drawn. In reality, the two wars could not be more different. Most importantly, from a legal standpoint, Iraq’s call for assistance from foreign nations validates lawful military intervention within its territory; the inclusion of regional players – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar – supplements the legitimacy of operations.